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Rep. Kennedy Defends Cash Tied to Abramoff

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006

(AP) Rep. Patrick Kennedy, citing his support for American Indian causes, says he has no plans to return any of the $42,500 he took from tribes represented by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

"He's proud to have their support," Kennedy chief of staff Sean Richardson said Wednesday. "He's got direct personal relationships with tribes. ... He looks at it as a human and civil rights issue, the fact that they're still not treated with the dignity and respect they deserve."

Kennedy, D-R.I., was the top congressional Democratic recipient of Abramoff-linked funds, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign watchdog group that analyzed contributions from 1999 to 2005. He was eighth overall among members of Congress.

Abramoff, who has admitted he defrauded some Indian tribes, is at the heart of a burgeoning Capitol Hill corruption scandal.

Kennedy was never lobbied by Abramoff or any of his associates and he did not receive any checks from Abramoff, Richardson said.

While President Bush and other top Republicans scrambled to give away contributions from tribes linked to Abramoff, Kennedy aides said the congressman's family, beginning with his late uncle Robert F. Kennedy in the 1960s, has championed American Indian causes.

The congressman co-founded the Native American Caucus in the House in 1997. He also raised money from several tribes for his party as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during 1999 and 2000.

The congressman has received contributions from 110 tribes and visited about a dozen reservations, Richardson said. Kennedy has accepted donations from Indian gambling interests since he first came to Congress a decade ago.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/04/ap/politics/mainD8EU4D4G0.shtml

Clinton fundraiser to pay fine
New York Daily News

WASHINGTON - One of Sen. Hillary Clinton's fundraising committees will admit it failed to disclose $722,000 in contributions from a felon and pay a $35,000 fine, according to a settlement released Thursday.

The deal stems from a high-powered Los Angeles fundraiser the New York Democrat held Aug. 12, 2000. The event also has sparked a failed federal prosecution of a campaign official and a lawsuit by the contributor, three-time convict and entrepreneur Peter Paul.

Paul, then the head of Stan Lee Media, says he bankrolled the event for New York Senate 2000 - a joint committee of Clinton's, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and New York state Democrats - all while trying unsuccessfully to get Bill Clinton to work for his company.

He says he paid $2 million to bring the likes of Cher, Michael Bolton and Diana Ross to the glittering gala and to underwrite two other fundraisers.

In the settlement, the Federal Election Commission says it found "probable cause" that the committee and treasurer Andrew Grossman did not disclose $721,895 in contributions for the gala, which the FEC found to cost $1.24 million.

Among the expenses left out were $400,000 for a concert, $92,000 to bring the stars to the event and $109,000 for food and drinks.

A lawyer for the New York Senate 2000 committee said the settlement exonerates Clinton and her own campaign committee.

"The rather modest civil penalty speaks volumes about this matter," said the lawyer, Marc Elias.

Clinton's former fundraising chief, David Rosen, was acquitted last spring of felony charges for hiding the $720,000. But Paul, who has been convicted of fraud charges related to the failure of Stan Lee Media, saw the settlement as vindication.

"After nearly five years, (Grossman) finally accepts responsibility for hiding the largest contribution to Hillary's campaign," said Paul, who now alleges in a lawsuit that the Clintons defrauded him and contributed to the failure of his company.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2006/01/06/build/nation/90-clinton-fine.inc